Nazi Conspiracy & Aggression
Individual Responsibility Of Defendants

Gustav Krupp Von Bohlen Und Halbach

(Part 11 of 15)

[Page 797]

(4) Prisoners of war and foreign laborers at the Krupp works were denied adequate medical care and treatment, and as a consequence, suffered severely from a multitude of diseases and ailments.

(a) In the above mentioned affidavit, Dr. Jaeger has stated:

"The percentage of eastern workers who were ill was twice as great as among the Germans. Tuberculosis was particularly widespread among the eastern workers. The T.B. rate among them was 4 times the normal rate (2% eastern workers, Germans .5%). At Dechenschule approximately 2 l/2% of the workers suffered from open T.B. These were all active T.B. cases. The Tartars and Kirghiz suffered most; as soon as they were overcome by this disease they collapsed like flies. The cause was bad housing, the poor quality and insufficient quantity of food, overwork, and insufficient rest.

"These workers were likewise afflicted with spotted fever. Lice, the carrier of this disease, together with countless fleas, bugs and other vermin, tortured the inhabitants of these camps. As a result of the filthy conditions of the camps nearly all eastern workers were afflicted with skin disease. The shortage of food also caused many cases of Hunger-Odem, Nephritis and Shighakruse.

"It was the general rule that workers were compelled to go to work unless a camp doctor had prescribed that they were unfit for work. At Seumannstrasse, Grieperstrasse, Germaniastrasse, Kapitan-Lehmanstrasse, and Dechenschule, there was no daily sick call. At these camps, the doctors did not appear for two or three days. As a consequence, workers were forced to go to work despite illnesses."

*******

"At the end of 1943, or the beginning of 1944,I am not completely sure of the exact date -- I obtained permission for the first time to visit the prisoner of war camps. My inspection revealed that conditions at these camps were even

[Page 798]

worse than those I had found at the camps of the eastern workers in 1942. Medical supplies at such camps were virtually non-existent. In an effort to cure this intolerable situation, I contacted the Wehrmacht authorities whose duty it was to provide medical care for the prisoners of war. My persistent efforts came to nothing. After visiting and pressing them over a period of two weeks, I was given a total of 100 aspirin tablets for over 3,000 prisoners of war." (D-288)

(b) In a memorandum dated 7 May 1943, prepared at the Krupp hospital, entitled "Deaths of Eastern Workers," report was made of the death of 54 "eastern workers." Of this number, 38 died of tuberculosis, 2 of undernourishment, and 2 of intestinal disease. (D-283)

(c) In his "strictly confidential" report concerning the prisoner of war camp at Noggerathstrasse, Dr. Jaeger reported:

"The food is barely sufficient. Krupp is responsible for housing and feeding. The supply of medicine and bandages is so extremely bad that proper medical treatment was not possible in many cases. This fact is detrimental to the P. W. camp. It is astonishing that the number of sick is not higher than it is and it moves between 9 and 10 percent." (D-339; also D-313).

(d) In a special medical report dated 28 July 1944, Dr. Jaeger wrote:

"The sick barrack in Camp Rabenhorst is in such bad condition, one cannot speak of a sick barrack anymore. The rain leaks through in every corner. The housing of the ill is therefore impossible. The necessary labour for production is in danger because those persons who are ill cannot recover. ***" (D-338).

(5) Russian juveniles were compelled to work at the Krupp factories, and prisoners of war and foreign workers were generally forced to work long hours, to and beyond the point of exhaustion.

(a) In a memorandum marked "secret", dated 14 August 1942, Reiff, a Krupp official, wrote:

"*** I am under the impression that the better Russian workers are first of all chosen for the works in Central and Eastern Germany. We really get the bad remainders only. Just now 600 Russians, consisting of 450 women and 150 juveniles, 14 years of age, arrived." (D-348; similar proof is contained in D-281).

[Page 799]

(b) In a memorandum from the Chief of the Krupp Camp Catering Department, it is stated:

*** It is to be considered that foreigners must work 12 hours on principle out of which, 1 hour counts as a break and consequently will not be paid." (D-233; for evidence concerning complete exhaustion of foreign workers and prisoners of war, see D-313).

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